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Jack Ridl Wins Poetry Competition

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Jack Ridl of the Hope College English faculty has won the 2002 "Say the Word" poetry
competition sponsored by The Writers' Center of the Ellipse Art Center in Arlington,
Va.

Jack Ridl of the Hope College English faculty has won the 2002 "Say the Word" poetry
competition sponsored by The Writers' Center of the Ellipse Art Center in Arlington,
Va.

"Say the Word" is a literary series that includes the annual national poetry competition
as well as readings, performances and workshops. The competition features a different
theme each year, and this year is exploring "Writing About Joy."

Ridl's poem, "The Dry Wallers Listen to Sinatra While They Work," was selected by
poet David St. John. The poem will be published in "Poet Lore," and Ridl will give
a reading at The Writers' Center on Friday, May 31, in addition to receiving a $500
prize.

In 2001, Ridl won the "Letterpress Chapbook Competition" sponsored by the Center for
Book Arts of New York City, for his collection "Against Elegies," selected by U.S.
Poet Laureate Billy Collins. His other published collections include "The Same Ghost"
(1985), "Between" (1988), the chapbook "After School" (1987) and "Poems from The Same
Ghost and Between" (1993).

He has published more than 175 poems in journals such as "The Georgia Review," "Poetry
East," "Chelsea," "Gulf Coast," "The Denver Quarterly," "Poetry," "The New York Quarterly,"
"Ploughshares," "Prairie Schooner" and "FIELD." He has also had work included in more
than a dozen anthologies, and is co-author, with Hope colleague Peter Schakel, of
the text "Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses."

He has read his work and led workshops at colleges, universities, art colonies and
other venues around the country. He teaches introductory, intermediate and advanced
courses in poetry writing at Hope, and also founded the college's Visiting Writers
Series.

Among other honors, in 1996 he was chosen Michigan's "Professor of the Year" by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The college's graduating class
of 1975 presented him with the "Hope Outstanding Professor Educator" Award.

Ridl was one of four Hope faculty poets to read during the college's Winter Happening
program on Saturday, Feb. 2. Also this spring, he will be reading at the Portage Library
on Thursday, Feb. 14; Muskegon Community College on Wednesday, March 13; Ferris State
University in Big Rapids on Thursday, April 4; and Aquinas College in Grand Rapids
on Sunday, April 28.

Historian Writes Book on Dutch Euthanasia

Visiting Writers Series Presents Samuel Hazo and Nahid Rachlin

The Hope College Visiting Writers Series begins the spring semester with two authors of Middle Eastern heritage, Samuel Hazo and Nahid Rachlin, who will read in the Knickerbocker Theatre on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m.